Review � Let the Yobot take your bag

This summer, a 669-room hotel known as the Yotel will open up at Times Square. This particular hotel has a �sleek, techno feel�.

I suppose someone wants the Yotel to be the �hotel of the future�, which is why guests have the option of giving their bags to a robot for safekeeping. Yes, this robot arm can take your bag an put it in one of 133 storage lockers.

Yes, I was hoping for a robot who would take your bags to your room, but I suppose the technology just isn�t there yet. Still, for those who want to store their bags behind the counter while they peruse the town after checkout, this is your ticket.

Speaking of ticket, Yobot gives the user a bar-coded ticket so it is a more secure method of storage that is as good as a locker. Of course, I don�t know how much a locker in Times Square costs, but this Yobot luggage counter will cost you $2 per bag.

In all honesty, I can see a lot of major hotels having some automated system like this. I would imagine that some might find this robot futuristic, but I just see it as normal. However, I suppose a human being could do this, and it would probably look classier.

http://news.cnet.com/ny-hotel-books-yobot-the-luggage-handling-robot/8301-17938_105-20065474-1.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=Crave

READ MORE - Review � Let the Yobot take your bag

Review � University of Chicago to get a mechanized library

Just yesterday, I reported on the Yobot, a robot arm that will be stationed at a Yotel near Times Square New York, and its job is to take ones bag for safekeeping and file it with others.

This Joe and Rika Mansueto Library at the University of Chicago looks rather similar in operation, but it is essentially a robot librarian and not a bag check-in. It has about 35,000 metal bins in a five story chamber, which is enough for millions of books.

If a patron wants a particular book, he or she can request it, and one of the robot arms fetches it from the five story chamber located underneath the new section of the library. The books are not sorted by any sort of Dewey Decimal System or other numerical classification, but by size.

This is slightly more efficient than human-stocked libraries, as older books don�t have to be shifted around in order to make room for newer books. All that is required is adding a new shelf, and make certain that the book is entered into the new digital system. Of course, this does create a problems should there be some sort of power outage.

Not only is this subterranean method of organization pretty cool, but the new edition to the library is a very cool egg-shaped dome structure. It cost enough to build at $81 million.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20066220-1/robots-hoard-the-books-at-mechanized-library/?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=Crave

READ MORE - Review � University of Chicago to get a mechanized library

Review � Ollie the robot comes in blimp form, with a child�s mentality

The other day, we reported on some telepresence robots that were essentially miniature blimps that fly around with someone’s head on it, and I equated the floating heads with something rather dystopian.

I now see a utopian age full of Ollie, a blimp who has been given the emotional range of a shy baby. There is a video after the jump, and you can see that Ollie is somewhat curious, and flaps its little fins when someone claps for it. It’s like a fish that has been given the ability to fly instead of swim, and breathe air, too.

It is an open source project that is designed by Parson’ grade Pritika Nilaratna, and it can be yours if you are willing to copy some code and assemble the lighter-than-air body.

Man, I tell you, if I knew anything about coding, and I had a bunch of helium filled apparatuses around, I would make a bunch of Ollies. Then I would have them float about the room, as if my room were one giant fish tank. If I had a tall ceiling, I would lay on my back and watch it like a mid-air aquarium.

Yeah, I think that Ollie is pretty cute. Maybe I don�t want my robots to have any more A.I. than this, but that�s just me.

Ollie from Pritika Nilaratna on Vimeo.

http://www.crunchgear.com/2011/05/25/ollie-the-socially-awkward-blimp-wants-to-be-your-friend/

READ MORE - Review � Ollie the robot comes in blimp form, with a child�s mentality

Review � This robot does windows, and runs on water

 

There�s nothing I like more than reporting on robots on this blog, and this one has is certainly has something unusual on two fronts.

First, it is can climb up walls, provided they are made of glass. It has suction cups, and they could take away all window washing jobs permanently. No more of those guys hanging off the sides of tall buildings.

Unfortunately, the suction cups won�t keep the robot affixed to the side of a glass building, not by themselves anyway. Here�s where it gets interesting. This robot has a vacuum suction that is generated by water. Yes, this robot can run on water. Not only that, the excess water is squirted out, which will help wash the windows.

Talk about killing two birds with one stone! Another thing that makes this robot nifty is that it is modeled after a gecko. Too bad it does require a flexible pipe in order to work, but the water tank is only so large, really.

Well, this water-powered robo gecko is under development from researchers at Zhejiang University in China, and there is no word if this will ever go past the experimental stage. So if you work on the top of a tall building, and you see a robotic gecko washing your window, do not be alarmed.

http://www.ubergizmo.com/2011/05/window-washing-gecko-inspired-robot/

READ MORE - Review � This robot does windows, and runs on water

REVIEW >> FitBot is one smart mannequin

Robots are slowly but surely encroaching on human territory, where without them, we would still be laboring out in the fields without machines to assist us so that we can rest easy at home long before the sun sets. Cubicle droids might beg to differ, but I digress. Enter the FitBot, which is a robotic mannequin that is capable of sizing up and down according to your needs. Thanks to Estonian startup Fits.me, this innovative solution that was launched last year for the men will now come in a female equivalent.

Thanks to their custom-built robot mannequin known as the FitBot, it is capable of accurately modeling clothes so that they will be able to look good across a span of body sizes, using just a singl emannequin. This is the perfect fit, if I may say so, for online clothing retail sites since it is capable of simulating just what a particular garment will resemble on any body shape.

All you need to do is use sliders to indicate your vital statistics such as your height, bust, waist, hips as well as the measurement from your wrist to the back of your neck. The computer will then process all those information where it will show off an image of what the robot mannequin would look like upon wearing the garment of your choice in your size.

With such robots making their way to market, how do you see them changing the way fashion is promoted? Will it usher in a whole new age of online shopping, since the ladies can never have enough handbags, shoes and clothes? Well, we do hope that there will be future versions which will cater for women who are super plus sized where the bust is concerned, because certainly the FitBot is unable to do anything about a 40DDD size.

READ MORE - REVIEW >> FitBot is one smart mannequin

REVIEW >> Japanese military makes a flying orb camera

 

What you are seeing here is not done with wire removal, but we are seeing a flying robot ball. It bears a strong resemblance to the torture ball robot from the original Star Wars movie, but this doesn�t have a needle on it, but a camera.

Yes, the purpose of the flying robot ball is to float in and take pictures. Its ball shape makes it more resistant, it case it bumps into walls.

This flying orb was designed by the Japan�s Ministry of Defense Technical Research and Development Institute. It can travel at a top speed of 40 miles per hour, and files on a single propeller with eight wings. You can see more of it on a video after the jump.

I suppose that this could be used to scope out enemy territory, but the big black ball looks pretty easy to shoot down. Personally, I think it has more uses in the private sector.

Imagine if your boss put this flying camera on your back in order to monitor your job performance. Yeah, I don�t like that idea, and it reminds me of an episode of Regular Show called �Peeps�. If you aren�t watching the Cartoon Network�s Regular Show, you are missing out on one of the funniest things on television.

But I don�t want to digress on that too much. As for this flying orb camera, it only cost $1,000 to make, and I wouldn�t be surprised if we see more of it in the future.

READ MORE - REVIEW >> Japanese military makes a flying orb camera

REVIEW: Robomower for the modern caveman

Isn�t the modern caveman an oxymoron of sorts? That�s what we thought, but we realized that it also isn�t too far from the truth, either. After all, how many guys you know prefer to stay cooped up in their rooms, playing video games and munching on pizza and drinking beer all day long? Perhaps the married act differently, but for many teens as well as college students (and single yuppies), they have gone through such a phase in their lives before.

Mowing the lawn? That�s a chore that ought to be done by someone else, but if you don�t feel like interacting with more human beings, then there is the Robomower which will come in a variety of models, and all of them do their job well within their scope. All you need to do is press �GO�, and you can get back to your room, enjoying your newly purchased video game. We wonder whether this Robomower will be able to mow down zombies in case of an undead invasion�

Depending on the model, you will need to fork out anywhere from $1,999.99 to $2,799.99 for the Robomower, and it comes with a user controlled theft protection alarm system for added safety for your investment, especially if you don�t have a guard dog to help you out. Just to be on the safe side, the Robomower sports a tilt sensor safety feature that will stop rotating blades the moment the Robomow tilts.

READ MORE - REVIEW: Robomower for the modern caveman